Senator Edward Lewis "Bob" Bartlett served as Alaska's
Territorial Delegate to
Congress from 1945-59. Following Alaska's induction into the
Union on January 3,
1959, Bartlett served as U. S. Senator until his death in 1968.
The citizens of Alaska voted to commemorate Bartlett's efforts
and
commissioned Felix de Weldon to sculpt his likeness, which was
then
placed in the Capitol Building's Statuary Hall.

Senator Bartlett's statue is a useful gateway into an abridged account of the
historical and political context of Alaska's long struggle from neglected
colony to 49th state.
Legislative and populist efforts eventually formed a critical mass for the
statehood cause and brought about the 1955 Alaska Constitutional
Convention, at which Senator Ernest Gruening gave his "Let Us End American
Colonialism" address--a scathing indictment of Alaska's neglect by the federal
government and subjugation to business interests in the contiguous
states. The statehood movement achieved increased national visibility through
the efforts of novelist Edna Ferber, whom one critic called the "Harriet Beecher
Stowe of the twentieth century": Ferber's Ice Palace (1958)
powerfully dramatized the Alaskan situation and spread a pro-statehood
message among thousands of readers in the "lower 48" states.